Darwin, Aug 8 (IANS) Australia’s T20I captain Mitchell Marsh said that he will be Travis Head’s full-time opening partner until the T20 World Cup, scheduled in India and Sri Lanka early next year, starting with the T20I series against South Africa.
Including Marsh and Head, Australia have had five openers in T20s since David Warner’s retirement after last year’s T20 World Cup, with Matt Short, Glenn Maxwell and Jake Fraser-McGurk also filling the role.
Marsh and Head have never opened in the T20Is together; but they have in ODIs and the pair have an average over 50 and strike at above 12 runs per over from eight partnerships.
“It’ll be myself and Heady up the top for the foreseeable future. Obviously we’ve played a lot together, (we’ve) got a great relationship, so (we’ll) start there,” Marsh told reporters in Darwin on Friday.
The 33-year-old allrounder missed the Champions Trophy ODI tournament earlier in 2025 Australia due to the deterioration of a back complaint he battled during the home summer. But on his return to action, he steered Australia to a historic 5-0 T20 clean sweep of the West Indies.
Marsh, however, did not confirm the remainder of the XI for the opening match against South Africa on Sunday, he did hint David could get a boost up to the order on the back of his blistering record 37-ball century in the third T20 against West Indies.
“We’ve spoken about it … We saw that in the Caribbean, that he came in earlier than he would normally. His skill set is made for that. The more balls he faces, hopefully the more games he wins us,’ Marsh said.
The Australians will play three T20Is and and as many as ODIs across Darwin, Cairns and Mackay from August 10 to 24.
–IANS
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